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THE Black Colonel, before his death, entailed the
estate. He also by a deed, dated 4th April, 1781 appointed his
brother and heir Dr. David Campbell, his nephew Hemy Balneaves of
Edradour, his cousin David Smyth of Methven, John Campbell of
Achalader, John Campbell, younger of Achalader, William Campbell of
Duneaves, and John Campbell Writer to the Signet, son of "John
Campbell of the Bank," whom the Highlanders distinguished from the
father by calling him "Iain Oig a Bhainc"—his disposers in trust,
for investing his money in the purchase of property, adjacent to or
conveniently near his entailed estate. Old John Campbell of
Achalader, for fifty years or more chamberlain of Breadalbane, died
before himself; and soon after the colonel's death, William Campbell
sold the estate of Duneaves, which had been in his family for four
generations, to Mr. Alexander Menzies, one of the principal clerks
of the court of Session, who afterwards bought the estate of
Chesthill.
When Dr. David, whom the people of his native
district called an Doctair Mor, or the Big Doctor, came home
from Jamaica, he found his nephew, Captain Archibald Balneaves,
acting as factor for the trustees; but he immediately took the local
management of affairs into his own hands, and appointed Iain Oig a
Bhainc his Edinburgh man of business. Mr. Archibald Campbell of
Easdale continued, for many years, to uplift the interest on the
captain's money, laid out on heritable security, in Argyleshire. Dr.
David did not care so much as his two brothers had cared about
recovering the " ancient inheritance," either in whole or in part.
Instead of losing his Gaelic during his thirty years' residence in
Jamaica, he came back a far better Gaelic scholar than he was when
he left. All Gaelic books published in the interval had been sent
out to him, as well as all the new medical works of the same period,
and he had keenly studied both. But he did not believe, like his
brothers, in Macpherson's Ossian, although he believed in Ossian. I
am not sure whether or not the judicial sale of the Chesthill estate
had taken place before his arrival: but it appears that in 1785,
soon after his return, Mr. Alexander Menzies would have resold it to
him, had he wished to purchase. In matters which had been fixed by
the colonel's trust he allowed the dead hand to rule; but as far as
he was left free he did not bother himself about purchasing land. He
was almost as temperate—and it was a hard drinking age—as his
brother the colonel, but he made up for that by being a great
smoker, and a social, hospitable, old gentleman. True enough, he was
rather a puzzle to the neighbouring lairds, for he was a keen
student of natural . history and physical science—then in its
infancy—and had resources of enjoyment within himself to which most
of them were strangers. He became the unpaid doctor of the poor—and
in cases of an exceptional difficulty, of the rich— over a large
district. He was much interested in farming improvements and
stock-breeding; but his farm manager and shepherd maintained that on
these subjects he had more theories than true knowledge. He was not
ambitious of playing a prominent part in parish or county business
On the contrary, he declined, with thanks, the offer of the Duke of
Athole to appoint him a Deputy-Lieutenant, until, in 1794, affairs
grew so serious at home and abroad, that as a good patriot he could
no longer refuse. "John of the Star," the old Earl of Breadalbane,
was dead, before he came back from Jamaica ; and his own near
relation, John of Carwhin, grandson of his aunt, Janet of Glenlyon,
reigned at Taymouth. It was well for the young man that he had'
close at hand, such a wise adviser and hearty friend as the Big
Doctor. It was well also for the Breadalbane tenantry and they knew
it too. Under the Big Doctor's tuition and moulding influence, John,
the 4th Earl and first Marquis of Breadalbane, became the kindest
and best beloved landlord his wide domains ever knew. His only
error—and it was a well meaning and kindly one—was that he divided
many farms—which were not large enough to bear sub-division without
leading to overpopulation and pauperism—in order to give rooms to
men who served in his Fencible Regiments.
The Big Doctor advocated emigration against the
spirit of the time among men of his class; but he wanted also to
keep the glens, dales, and straths at home as fully peopled as they
could bear. He foresaw and rather dreaded the growth of towns. He
was ready to argue on all questions, except party politics for which
he had no liking. He came back from Jamaica in excellent health and
spirits, and for many years enjoyed the Highland winters instead of
suffering from them. It was one of his peculiarities that out of
doors he always wore a cloak reaching nearly to his
heels—a light one
in summer, and a heavy "clo" or felted one in winter. Between gratis
doctoring, reading books, botanising, carrying on a big
correspondence with the Chief Justice of Jamaica—Mr. Grant of
Kilgraston—as well as with other friends in that island,
superintending his farm and estate, and discussing with the
philosophers and politicians he met at Taymouth, time did not hang
heavy on his hands. He was a most popular and beloved landlord; but
all his tenants knew that while he let them have their holdings on
easy terms, they must all punctually pay their rents in money,
butter, straw, flax, eggs, and poultry, as agreed upon; or else be
well reprimanded. It was considered a heinous crime to give the Big
Doctor a real cause of offence, or to fail in duty towards him;
although, as far as a bit of chaffing scolding from him was
concerned, they rather courted than evaded that.
Dr. David had not
made much money in Jamaica; for all he brought back with him of his
own saving scarcely exceeded £2,000. Miss Kitty used to tease him
about his want of success; but he encouraged his sisters to tease
him as much as they liked. Soon after his return—his shepherd lad
when an old man told me the story—a young M'Gregor who was about to
emigrate to the West Indies, called on him to bid farewell, and
receive some letters of introduction. m This emigrating young man
was the son of Gregor the Handsome—Griogair Boidheach—a once
celebrated soldier of the Black Watch. He was, therefore, either the
uncle or father—I think the father—of Sir Gregor who married
Bolivar's sister and, in George the Fourth's reign, figured in
London as Prince of Poyais. "What makes you," asked Miss Kitty, of
M'Gregor, "wish to leave your native land?" "I wish," he replied,
"to go to make my fortune." "And do you think," said she, "that any
one who goes to the West Indies can make a fortune if he tries his
best?" "Yes, indeed," replied the confident fortune-seeker. The
conversation was in Gaelic, and at this part of it Miss Kitty
laughingly pointed to her brother and said: "Mo thruaighe 'n duine
bochd so, mata. Bha e deich bliadhna fichead an Jamaica, s cha
d'rinn e moran beartais."—"Pity this poor man here, then; for he was
thirty years in Jamaica and made little profit of it." The unruffled
Laird laughed back and said: "Mar d'rinn mi beartas an Jamaica,
fhuair mi taigh Ian dar thainig mi dhachaigh. Agus is e comhnadh
dhaoin eile, agus gu'm bu docha learn ceartas is onoir na beartas
agus or, a chum cho bochd mi."—"If I made no wealth in Jamaica, I
found a full house on coming home. And it was helping others, and
that I preferred justice and honour to wealth and gold which kept me
so poor."
The Black Colonel, by lending the minister of
Fortingall ;£iio for his son's education, opened for Sir David
Macara the door of his noble career. He aided others as well as his
clachan favourite by money and influence. Dr. David followed the
same plan of aiding those who had talent, once they got a start, for
aiding themselves, and reflecting credit on their friends. Young men
in search of their fortunes from his father's estate and native
parish began to follow him to Jamaica soon after he established
himself there. He became, in course of time, a sort of Gaelic chief
surrounded by a following of his own in that island. He gave his
help and advice to many more who emigrated to the West Indies after
his return ; and in truth, a connection of rather a close kind
between Jamaica and Fortingall continued fifty years
after his death, and has scarcely terminated yet. Although not at
all so much influenced by Highland sentiments as the colonel and
captain were in their day, a good deal of clannishness stuck to the
Big Doctor to the end. He looked upon the then landless William
Campbell of Duneaves, and not upon his own sisters' son, as, after
himself, the true representative of the Campbells of Glenlyon; and
it was supposed that, had not the colonel's entail interfered, he
would have preferred to leave the property to this Campbell male
heir, so as to keep up the old name. Be that as it may, he helped
with might and main the brothers Archibald and Duncan, sons of
Captain Campbell, at one time factor for the commissioners for the
forfeited estates on the Struan property in Rannoch, to get proper
education and afterwards commissions in the army. The father of
these lads was the son of Duncan Campbell, tenant of Milton Eonan,
who was a younger son of John Campbell of Duneaves. Archibald, the
elder of the two, •became a general in the army, the conqueror of
Ava, and a baronet of the united kingdom. He bought the Garth estate
from General Stewart's heirs, but he subsequently resold it. Duncan,
who was paymaster of his regiment, retired with the rank of captain,
and died unmarried at Perth. The trial of Meria and others at
Edinburgh in 1793, for spreading the works of Tom Paine, and
organising sedition, and the vapourings of the Convention of the
Friends of the People, which was held in the Scottish capital that
year, as well as the atrocities which were being perpetrated in
France, and the ill success with which the allies carried on the
war, produced so much alarm and anger, too, throughout these
islands, that peaceful men like the Laird of Glenlyon left their
avocations and seclusions to serve their country in one way or
another. The Laird, in 1794, accepted the office of
Deputy-Lieutenant, which he formerly declined. Here is one of his
letters to the Duke of Athole reporting defensive progress:—
"My Lord,
Your Lordship will please receive, herewith,
lists of the subscribers in the several districts of the parish of
Kenmore, and detached parts of the parishes of Dull and Weem, being
within the division allotted for me as one of your Grace's
Deputy-Lieutenants ; amounting to 126 well-affected men. From these
I have selected, as per separate list, 30 men, who, in my opinion,
are proper men to be appointed as extraordinary peace-officers, and
to have batons. Your Grace will, perhaps, think these too many. In
that event the number may be reduced to 17 only. But considering the
local situation of the districts, their extent and distances from
each other, I think there can be no less than two extraordinary
peace-officers in every district, except Roro. The districts in
which three are stated are as large and populous as two of the
others, and there are in each sufficient men to attend as assistants
or ordinary constables, if it shall happen that they shall be called
to attend on any occasion ; which, indeed, the establishment of such
a system is calculated to render more improbable. From my own
knowledge of the inhabitants, I have no doubt of their loyalty to
the king and constitution. There are few families, over all the
country, who have not either sons or grandsons in Lord Breadal-bane's
Fencibles and other corps; and on that account, and otherwise, they
are all well-affected to King and Government, and avowed enemies to
the French. I have kept a list of the subscribers, and when your
Grace will say and fix as to the number of extraordinary
peace-officers, I shall name and appoint their assistants, and
authorise the peace-officers to call them out, if necessary. But I
am not, in the least, apprehensive of any trouble, as we have no
seditious or disaffected people amongst us.
"There are held at the village of Killin six
public fairs yearly, and as many in the village of Kenmore. These
fairs are guarded, at Lord Breadalbane's expense, by twenty-four
well-affected men, and an officer in each place, who, with halberts,
patrol twice every fair day to keep peace and good order, &c. These
we can call to our assistance if any riots or tumults should occur ;
but I am not apprehensive of any such happening.
"Your Grace's further commands shall be duly
attended to. And I am, with great respect and esteem,
"My Lord,
"Your Grace's Most Obedient and Most Humble
Servant,
"DAVID CAMPBELL.
"Glenlyon House, 9th Oct., 1794."
Although the Highlanders of Perthshire were
avowed enemies to the French, and loyal to the king and
constitution, they intensely disliked military conscription, while
ready enough to volunteer into army, militia, and fencibles to any
extent. I am not very sure as to the year in which the Session Books
Riot occurred at Fortingall; but I think it must have been in 1793,
when the supplementary militia was first raised. If that was the
date, the Doctair Mor had a special cause for emphatically
testifying to the loyalty of the people of his district, and to
vouch for it that there was no cause for fearing further riots. The
Session Books Riot was almost exclusively a foolish ebullition of
enraged alarm on the part of ignorant mothers who feared all their
sons . would be taken from them, and thought they could save them by
destroying the books in which their ages were recorded. Peter
Macnaughton, better known as Para Muileir, was almost the
only Glenlyon man who joined in the affair. He brought with him down
to Fortingall a score of angry women. A dozen of old men came from
Rannoch at the head of a large company of women; and a
detachment of Bolfracks rioters, mostly women also, joined the other
two bodies. The object was simply to go to Thomas Butter, the
schoolmaster and session clerk, and take the books from him. The
Fortingall people themselves had no hand in the affair. Mr. William
Stewart, younger, of Garth, having received an hour's warning of
what was coming, hastened to Fortingall, got the books from Butten
and went off with them to Glenlyon House. The rioters were close on
his heels. Butter told them he had given up the books to the
magistrates, and that they were then at Glenlyon House. "And what
right have the magistrates to the kirk books, and what right had you
to give them up?" shouted the rioters. Then others cried out—"He
must come with us and demand them back." That proposal was received
with acclaim. Butter, who was lame, said he could not go unless he
got a horse. Unfortunately for him, the rioters finding a cabar
which suited their purpose, made him ride the stang, saying
jeeringly, "What a good horse—what a prancing steed? Take care he
does not throw you over Alt-Odhair Bridge." The poor man was nearly
frightened to death, and keeping him still on his cabar, they made
him, when they reached Glenlyon House, ask re-delivery of his books,
and he did ask it for mercy's sake before they would kill him. The
rioters would not listen to reason, and Mr. William of Garth#
holding up the books in his hands, before them all, dared them to
take them. A virago from Rannoch immediately threw a plaid over his
head, and the books disappeared— the one to be found damaged by
weather in a bush in the glebe some months afterwards, and the other
never to be recovered. Of course the many women and few men who took
part in this riot were thoroughly ashamed of themselves, as soon as
they understood that militia lists could be made up without the
parish registers.
Up to the end of 1800, the old Laird, thanks to
his vigorous constitution and healthy habits, wonderfully resisted
the ravages of time, and actively attended to his public and private
duties. The hard winter of 1804 told upon him severely. It killed
his sister, Miss Kitty, Miss Mary being dead long before. Miss
Kitty, as long as she lived, never allowed her brother to mope from
want of mental exercise and the use of his tongue. After her death
his life and house were not so cheerful as they used to be. He gave
up his active life by degrees, feeling stiff and weakened in body,
but strong and clear in mind almost to the last.
He died in 1806, at the advanced age of 85.
As the old Laird outlived his Balneaves nephews,
who left no legitimate issue, his grandnephew, Francis Garden, son
of Peter Garden of Delgaty—afterwards of Troup— and of his niece,
Catherine Balneaves, became his heir. Francis Garden, who, on
succeeding his granduncle, assumed the additional surname and arms
of Campbell, was succeeded by his son Francis, who died in 1826.
This second Francis was succeeded by a son of the same name, who
died in 1848. He was succeeded by his only son the fourth Francis
Garden Campbell of Troup and Glenlyon, who sold his Glenlyon
property to Sir Donald Currie in 1885. |
